


Five Things That Never Happened to Ciranoush, and One That Did

by just_ann_now



Series: Tales of Gaersum [3]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Brotherly Affection, F/M, Out of Character, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-03
Updated: 2014-03-29
Packaged: 2017-12-22 07:44:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/910662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_ann_now/pseuds/just_ann_now
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU-to-my-AU of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/910636">"The Haradric Whore and Her Son: A Love Story"</a>. Drabble and ficlet lengths. Originally posted in December of 2007</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Edoraslass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edoraslass/gifts).



Had I not kept his house and warmed his bed, obeyed him in all that he had ever asked? I had grown used to the beatings, but for him to gamble away my body was wrong. I savored my small revenge as he sat groaning, clutching his belly. 

Suddenly there was a clatter from outside,a shout,and the door was flung open. 

It was the Rohir.

He stood a moment, staring at me; in the sunlight he seemed much younger than he had the night before. Through the open doorway I could see two horses, packed as if for a journey, their tails swishing restlessly. 

The Rohir pulled a bag of coins from inside his jerkin and tossed it onto the table. Then he reached for my hand. 

"You don't want her. I do."

Laughing, he lifted me up before him; we rode away without ever once looking back.


	2. Chapter 2

My fingers were clumsy as I changed my dress and fumbled with my hair, then scurried down the hallway after the housemistress. She was muttering to herself the whole way. “Of all the girls to choose! He and his friend have been coming to Rían for years; I had always hoped...” She stopped to glare at me. “Your contract has been purchased, though I can't think why; ugly, sullen girl that you are.” I gasped, thinking of the leather merchant's pasty skin and stinking hands. She moved to slap me but stopped, her hand still raised mid-air as she threw open the parlor door.

“Here she is, my lord!” she announced gaily.

The man who turned from the window was handsome and well-muscled, dark-haired with eyes of grey. He smiled as he lifted my chin; his fingers smelled faintly of cedarwood.“Yes, that's the one. She's perfect.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Do you know any Haradric poetry?” I stared at him, dumbfounded; perhaps I had not understood correctly. "Well, no matter. I've taken these two rooms for you; the girl from the apothecary's shop downstairs will tend to cleaning and laundry and whatnot. You don't need to do anything, except, ah, whatever it is you do when you are by yourself. Needlework? Do you play music? I'll put some money in your account each month, buy whatever you need.”

My head was spinning. Surely he did not mean I was to live here _alone_? Two rooms, all to myself, and spending money, and no work other than - 

Suddenly there was thunderous stomping up the stairs. The door was flung open; a gangly dark-haired youth stood, flushed and laughing. 

“That treasure map was brilliant. Your clues were amazing! It took me nearly all afternoon! Now, where is my birthday--”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst and OOC Faramir Level Red here!

We lost our father in the War. 

Not to death, as so many did; I mean that before the war we had a father who loved us, and afterwards, we did not.

Our father brought cunning wooden toys for my little brother Qui, and colorful embroidered headscarves for me, and journal-books and pens for my older sister Nila. He taught us songs, told us stories, and whispered things in my mother's ear that made her laugh and blush. He did not live in our house, or even come see us every day, but that did not seem odd; it was just the way things were.

When they sent the women and children out of the city, he sent a cart big enough for all of us and our neighbor the apothecary and his wife and my sister Nila's husband's grandmother who lived with her. The grandmother brought two pet finches in a cage; the drover laughed at her but those finches traveled to Lebennin and back, singing their hearts out the whole way. 

After the War everything changed. We heard that our father had suffered grievous hurt, but that the new king had healed him. Then there was the crowning, and the king's wedding celebration, and after that the clearing away of all the rubble from the city. Our father was very busy, my mother said, and we were proud that he was so important and helpful to the king. It was later that summer that we began to hear the stories about our father and the warrior princess, the Wraithsbane.

The last time he came to see us he did not swoop up my little brother as he always had, nor ruffle my hair, nor ask Nila about her studies. He simply stood, looking at the ground, the sky, anywhere but at us, talking about leases and allowances and settlements. I remember how pale my mother became, how her voice trembled as she said, “You are very generous, my lord, as ever,” and how I heard her weeping for many nights afterward, when she thought I was asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

“Music, mama, let's go see!” My little brother pulled at our hands, and together we ran from the courtyard to the street.

It was a troop of the White Company, marching with pipes and drum. “We must go back,” my mother murmured, but then Qui cried out in delight at the officers on their horses. Then came a beautiful lady on a prancing mare, and riding beside her a handsome man holding a little boy in front of him. The people were cheering, calling out, “Good day, little princeling! Ho, Prince Elboron!”

“Mama, look! It's Ada!” my brother cried. “Hush, now,” my mother whispered, lifting him up and turning quickly away. I could see my father stiffen; the beautiful lady nudged her horse to make it go more quickly. “Who was that other little boy with my Ada?” I heard my brother ask, his voice muffled against my mother's shoulder.


	6. Chapter 6

“You can come in, but only for a moment. They are both very tired," Fridu warned. 

The silver strands in his mother's hair gleamed in the lamplight but her face seemed very young, soft and unlined, and her eyes were shining. Gaersum suddenly felt very odd, as though he were into looking into the past. Her gaze was not on him, but on Roäc, brushing his fingertip along his newborn daughter's cheek.

“What will you call her?” Fridu asked.

“She shall be called _Eres_ ,” Roäc whispered, awe in his voice. He smiled up at them. “That is,'Wonder'”.


End file.
